What would the world be like if, instead of PCs, computing for the masses had arrived in the form of Unix-powered terminals similar to France's Minitel, administered not by the Baby Bells but by the US Postal Service with iron-clad First and Fourth Amendment protections after the US government took the rights to Unix from AT&T under eminent domain, put Unix into the public domain, and put the whole Bell Labs crew on the government payroll?
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/jun/28/minitel-france-says-farewell
Imagine if every American got their own #Unix shell account from the Post Office, and young students looked forward to the day in third grade when the local neighborhood sysadmin would come in and teach them the basics.
@starbreaker If this happened, I think a lot more people would understand the technical basics and structure behind UNIX, which has a steep learning curve.
There are times I wish that I had spent some time learning it, but I've got so much else to do that I'm perfectly content to stay with Windows at this point. ^-^;;
And yes, I know Windows is a monstrously unpopular platorm around here, but I believe we can respect each other and their tech choices (for the most part). ^_^
@ayachan I might not like Windows, but that's never stopped me from using it at my day job. I figure that if people are using it at home, they probably have their reasons.
Use whatever works for you. I'd rather show off interesting ways to extend the life of old computers with UNIX than bully or cajole people who are content with Windows, because the hard sell never works.
UNIX isn't going away, and it'll still be around if you change your mind. In the meantime, do what's best for you.
@starbreaker I use Windows because it's compatible with everything I run, is supported by some of the biggest names in the tech industry and can utilise modern hardware well. People will disagree with me on some of this, but I've been very happy.
When it comes to software and drivers, there is no substitute where I am concerned.
And I don't want UNIX to go away. I think UNIX is amazing and serves a very important purpose, including managing 99% of the servers out there.
Use what you like. ^_^
@ayachan That's fair enough, and I readily admit that modern Windows is vastly improved over old versions. Windows 7 was the first version I could tolerate.
TBH, I wish Microsoft would build Windows on top of Unix like Apple did with OSX.
@starbreaker I couldn't agree more with what you're saying here. ^_^ New Windows is vastly superior to a great deal of their older products.
I'm not so sure how I feel about building Windows off of UNIX, but I am glad that this is how MacOS X got its start. ^_^
